Oh, this is a good one: disco, funk, and hip-hop pioneers Nile Rodgers & CHIC play some of the most rousing and joyful music ever witnessed on the Tiny Desk Concert stage / corner of the NPR office. Here’s what they played:
“Le Freak”
“I’m Coming Out”
“We Are Family”
“Get Lucky”
“Good Times”
“Let’s Dance”
Name a better six-song set. I’ll wait. (Ok, maaaaybe this one.)
See also Nile Rodgers Tells the Story of the Iconic Riff on Bowie’s Let’s Dance.
In this video from Fender, the legendary producer/composer/guitarist Nile Rodgers sits down with his iconic Stratocaster and talks about how he took a folky tune that David Bowie came up with and turned it into the jazzy backbone of the pop song Let’s Dance, arguably Bowie’s biggest hit. Listening to where the song started off before Rodgers started tweaking, it’s hard for this musical simpleton to recognize that it’s even the same tune.
Update: Rodgers told a variation of this story in 2015.
